To Set up an EUV Cluster

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong (second from the left) checks out the production line of ASML during his visit to the Dutch company on Oct. 13 last year.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on May 13 that ASML would invest 240 billion won in South Korea for four years to come to build an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) equipment cluster including a local repair center and a training center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.

At present, the Dutch company is the only company in the world that supplies EUV lithography equipment, which is essential for cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing and has a unit price of more than 200 billion won. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, TSMC and so on are in desperate need of its equipment, but the annual production volume stands at 30 to 40 units.

The local repair center is for system parts repairing and EUV collector cleaning. The training center for engineers operating the equipment is expected to be a boon to domestic semiconductor companies. In addition, the business relationship between ASML and its South Korean clients is expected to be strengthened based on the investment decision.

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution